Stand-up Comedy Documentary: I Am Comic

As you are probably aware already, I am featured in the new stand-up comedy documentary I Am Comic (directed by Jordan Brady) which will premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in Jan 2009.

I’m still in shock — little old me, a stand-up comedy educator (NOT the Steve Roye who was on Baywatch) who lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky (which doesn’t even have a comedy club) is going to be in the same film as some major comedy stars.

I finally got a chance to see a list of the major stand-up comedy personalities that are featured in that documentary. And I must say that it is rather impressive.

Some of the more popular comedians featured in I Am Comic (in no particular order) are:

Kathy Griffin
Tommy Davidson
Louis C. K.
Sarah Silverman
Jeff Foxworthy
Dave Attell
Margaret Cho
Paul Rodriguez
Larry Miller

A more complete list of comedians appearing in I Am Comic can be found on the IMDB website – Just search for “I Am Comic IMDB” using you favorite search engine.

Now as far as my role in the I Am Comic documentary is concerned…

My part revolved around my Comedy Evaluator Pro software, which is designed as a stand-up comedy performance evaluation tool. I was filmed actually performing PAR Score evaluations (PAR: Positive Audience Response) on a number of comedians including Tommy Davidson, Jeff Foxworthy and Todd Glass.

As`a results of the initial screenings of I Am Comic in Hollywood, I have been informed that my scenes caused a bit of controversy among comedians who got the chance to participate in those screenings.

Why? The only possible reason that I could come up with why my software actually ticks some comedians completely off is because it doesn’t measure all the “telepathic” laughter generated by an audience—it only measures actual audible laughter generated by an audience (that was a joke in case you missed it).

What these comedy stars don’t know about me is this:

I was a headlining comedian in Southern California for years before I ever developed my software, performing at some of the same major venues that they have during their careers — unlike many so-call comedy teachers who couldn’t find “funny” with a 50 man working party if their family was being held hostage.

So, it will be interesting to see how I am approached by the comedy stars who manage to attend the world premiere of I Am Comic at the Slamdance Film Festival (yes, I will be there).